


Absence

by chancellorxofxtrash



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Codependency, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fix-It, Guilt, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Sharing a Bed, VrainsRarepairs2019, also this is just me looking at the ending of canon and grabbing a hammer to fix it, vague references of someone overworking himself and losing weight, very very vaguely implied - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22066105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellorxofxtrash/pseuds/chancellorxofxtrash
Summary: After everything was over and finished, there were absences left behind. And everyone had their own way of dealing with them.
Relationships: Ai | Ignis/Flame/Windy, Ai | Ignis/Fujiki Yuusaku, Flame/Homura Takeru, Flame/Windy (Yu-Gi-Oh), Fujiki Yuusaku/Homura Takeru, Fujiki Yuusaku/Homura Takeru/Revolver | Kougami Ryouken, Fujiki Yuusaku/Homura Takeru/Revolver | Ryouken Kogami/Ai | Ignis/Flame/Windy, Fujiki Yuusaku/Revolver | Kougami Ryouken, Homura Takeru/Revolver | Kougami Ryouken, Revolver | Kougami Ryouken/Windy
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39
Collections: VRAINS Rarepairs 2019!





	Absence

**Author's Note:**

> Written for VRAINS Rarepair Week 2019
> 
> Day 3: Rebirth/New Beginning
> 
> Also thanks for my buddy my pal InsertImaginativeNameHere for editing this monster.

Deep within Link VRAINS’ code, there is a line beyond which data goes to die. Way deeper than the sewers. Way deeper than anything else.

Those who go there usually have nothing to lose.

Those who go there, they call it Deep VRAINS.

Those who go there know each other extremely well. They know what they can get from whom.

So when a new person, with an odd, black-purple colour scheme showed up, they crowded around him.

“Duelling is how we play things around here, kid. If you lose, I take your duel disk, meaning you are stuck here. So maybe you should be logging out before you get hurt.”

The kid looked at them with green eyes, and just held up his duel disk.

“Let’s get this over with, then.”

The kid used Cyberse cards. They were not unheard of, deep beneath all the dead codes, there were a lot of discarded, forgotten and lost Cyberse cards, but the kid used almost exclusively those.

And wiped the floor with their previous boss without breaking a sweat.

Then walked over to him, with a passive expression.

“I do not want to destroy your duel disk” The kid said with a deadpan voice. “I have no desire in running this place either. But I do require information from you.”

The boss stood up, gritting his teeth.

“Alright. What shall we call you?”

The kid thought about it for a few moments.

“You can call me Unknown. And I am looking for something unusual.”

~*~

Takeru couldn’t actually recall when he started meeting up with Revolver. It was almost a gradual thing, something he couldn’t account for, he couldn’t predict.

He moved away from Den City - too many memories, too many empty places. He would stick around for a bit after… all was said and done, and he would walk around the plaza, waiting for a familiar figure to walk around there. But then it didn’t happen, and he was already planning to go home, so he had done so.

Home was full of empty places as well, and in some ways, the absence was more bearable - he could bring himself to look at his parents’ portraits. He could bring himself to look at them, and smile, and even talk to them. He would talk to them about his adventures, and everything that happened.

In other ways, empty places would just get worse.

He did keep carrying his duel disk around, after all, and the empty place inside that was the most unbearable of that all.

He brought Kiku into Link VRAINS, and she was extremely happy - she even met with some of his friends - there was Blue Maiden (and Blue Angel too, as she was switching between the two outfits a lot), and Ghost Girl. She would eventually make her own avatar, and run around, and have fun, together with that other girl Blue Maiden brought with herself to show around.

Takeru guessed who that girl was, from the way her pigtails were styled, and her own blue colour scheme. He figured they should have talked, but when they looked at each other, he saw the same message in her eyes that he himself felt not that long ago

_ Not yet. _

It seemed right. Takeru wasn’t willing to talk about it for a long time either - and if she needed time, Takeru understood that extremely well.

Revolver was not one of the people Takeru had introduced Kiku to. In fact, Revolver seemed to have kept himself in the shadows like he always did. Takeru wasn’t sure that Revolver was still a wanted person or not - but he figured it was for the best either way. Wanted or not, he was still a notorious person who almost destroyed Link VRAINS once.

But one time, when Takeru was a bit further away from the others, he heard a voice.

“You should be socializing a bit more, Soulburner.”

In one of the alleys, there was Revolver, leaning by the wall, partially shrouded by the shadows.

“What do you mean?”

“They are all having fun, and you are standing here. What for?”

Takeru slowly shook his head, not being able to find the words - and then smiled, looking back at Revolver.

“Says you. You are just lurking there.”

“I am not in Link VRAINS to socialize, Soulburner.”

“Well, you should be. It is a social platform, after all.”

“You were the one who told me I should be the one overseeing the world.”

“It doesn’t mean you have to  _ isolate  _ yourself, Revolver.”

Revolver frowned.

“I am not isolating myself.”

“When was the last time you talked with someone who was not part of your squad?”

Revolver didn’t reply.

Just stepped back away into the shadows, disappearing.

Figures.

Total drama queen.

~*~

Revolver didn’t really go close to Takeru when he was with others, but when he found himself wandering around Link VRAINS alone, he ran into Revolver more and more.

“...I guess there is no sign of him, huh?”

Takeru said it one day suddenly, and Revolver was silent for a few moments.

He did not need to specify who.

“No. Pandor is told to constantly look for him, but so far, she didn’t come up with any results. It doesn’t seem like he had logged in since his last duel.”

His last duel.

His duel with…

“I mean… he had to have won that, right?”

“Obviously,” Revolver said it without skipping a beat. “Otherwise those who had been taken would not have come back.”

It made sense, Takeru figured. Everyone came back - Onizuka was playing competitively again, Akira Zaizen was running SOL Tech. Even Queen was back, apparently, but Takeru did not really look into that, where she was.

And obviously all of Revolver’s knights were also back.

“...do you think he will come back?”

“Yes.”

“No, I mean… seriously. What you  _ think.  _ Not what you  _ want. _ ”

Revolver looked at him, his pale blue eyes fixed at Takeru.

“He will definitely log back in. Whether he will seek us out, that depends on what he figured out for himself.”

“...why wouldn’t he look for us? We are his friends, I…”

“He lost the Dark Ignis,” Revolver interrupted him. “You of all people know how hard that is. And unlike you, he had to do it with his own hands. Whatever is he planning, he might not want to put it onto our shoulders.”

Revolver’s voice was devoid of emotion, and his eyes fixed on Takeru’s face - Takeru felt like the air had been punched out of his lungs.

_ The pain, the emptiness, when Flame was gone, the  _ **_absence,_ ** _ the empty places since then… _

“...you think he is trying to figure out how to bring Ai back.”

“Would not surprise me.”

“What would you do, if he would do that?”

Revolver did not reply, just jumped off from the building, landing on his D-board.

Yeah. Absolutely a drama queen.

~*~

“I found some more data for you.”

Unknown looked at the screens, and actually smiled a little, hearing the familiar female voice.

“Thank you, Pandor.”

Unknown had got himself a good setup in there in Deep VRAINS. Despite not taking over, apparently his deck and duelling skills earned him some sort of begrudging respect - at least enough to be left alone.

He wasn’t stupid enough to let the inhabitants know the exact details of what he was looking for. He just told them to keep an eye out of any  _ unusual  _ data.

But Pandor knew - and obviously she brought exactly what he needed. There were the screens all around Unknown, codes whirring through them.

One of the screens were split into six parts. All six having different colour codes whirring in it.

Unknown released the codes he got from Pandor - brown ones.

“You broke into SOL for these?”

Pandor smiled a little, gesturing with her hand.

“It wasn’t easy. The new CEO is keeping an eager eye out, but I managed to salvage what I could. I hope it will be enough.”

“...it helps a lot. Thank you.”

Pandor found Unknown not long after he arrived in Deep VRAINS. For a few horrible seconds, Unknown thought he would have to fight Pandor, but she just listened. She listened to what Unknown’s plan was, and since then, she had been helping.

“And what about Revolver?”

“He is also keeping an eye out.”

“I’m sure you need to be careful about him too.”

“Not terribly,” Pandor said, with a little smile. “He told me to keep an eye out, warn him about dangers, and look for Playmaker. Other than that, he lets me roam free.”

Unknown did not look at Pandor, but frowned.

He didn’t say a single word either, and Pandor just continued.

“There had been no sign of danger lately apart from a few hackers, easy to deal with. Sometimes bounty hunters cause a ruckus. And there had been no sign of Playmaker in Link VRAINS since his last duel with Ai. So there is nothing important for me to report to him.”

Unknown sighed.

“Do you think he will think the same way?”

“I’m not sure,” Pandor admitted. “But he had been hanging out with Soulburner a lot lately. That may help him… change his mind a little.”

Unknown’s fingers stopped over the keyboard, before looking at Pandor, green eyes focusing on her, before slowly nodding.

“Maybe.”

~*~

And indeed, Revolver was hanging around Takeru more and more. It was… odd, Takeru figured. Revolver was still kinda withdrawn, and still not really interacting with others, and Takeru did not really know what to make of it.

Revolver was odd himself, all in all.

The first time they met outside of Link VRAINS after all of it was over, was when he went to Den City to visit Kusanagi.

The city was still full of empty places, absences, but meeting Kusanagi and Jin was worth it, he figured.

And there was Revolver - no, Ryoken Kogami, he was there, sitting at the table, his pale eyes focusing on Takeru.

“Long time no see.”

“In person, yeah.” Takeru nodded awkwardly.

There was silence.

They had no idea what to say, when Kusanagi walked out of the truck.

“Now that you two are here… I kind of have something to ask of you.”

With that, he grabbed a key, and put it into Takeru’s hands.

“A key? What is this for?”

“It’s for Yusaku’s apartment” Kusanagi scratched the back of his head. “I don’t really… know what to do with things in it. I think he wouldn’t mind if you two would be the ones to just go in, and maybe throw out some trash, or something. Or to check if things are fine. I would go, but…” Kusanagi trailed off. “Anyway… I hope if it is not much of a bother.”

Kusanagi did not explain - his eyes focused on Jin for a few seconds, before looking down.

And then Ryoken stood up.

“I’ll go. Are you coming?”

Takeru nodded numbly.

~*~

Takeru had been in Yusaku’s apartment before, and if his absence was heavy in the city, here it was unbearable. It was completely suffocating, and Takeru felt like he was wearing iron boots to walk inside.

Seemingly Ryoken was not affected by it, but Takeru saw his shoulders tense up as well.

“Have you been here before?”

Ryoken shook his head.

“We were always only tentatively on the same side, after all. Didn’t exactly invite me over.”

“...he would have invited you, you just wouldn’t have come.”

“True,” Ryoken conceded with a small nod. “I wouldn’t have.”

There weren’t many personal belongings at all. No photos. No childhood toys or memories. Nothing.

Just the bare essentials, and an empty shell of Roboppi.

Takeru took Roboppi into his hands, and gently set them down to the table. It was stupid, he knew - Roboppi was gone, and even if they weren’t, that wouldn’t have been the best idea to put them up on a table.

He imagined the little robot yelling in panic, wanting to come down, flailing around with their tiny little arms.

He also imagined Yusaku coming down from upstairs, to take them off from there with a weary sigh.

Obviously neither happened. Roboppi did not turn back on. Yusaku did not walk down.

It was just Takeru, and the silently moving Ryoken.

“There is nothing in the fridge, and most electronics had been turned off” Ryoken said, hands in pockets, as he walked close to Takeru. “At least down here. We should check up there.”

Takeru nodded, and both of them walked up the stairs.

Upstairs was just as empty and impersonal as downstairs had been. Clothes. Books for school, barely opened, judging by their state.

Yusaku’s school bag.

Takeru couldn’t help it, his legs gave out, and he sat down on Yusaku’s bed, and tried to fight the tightness in his throat.

“...do you think he will come back?”

“Are you asking the same question again?”

“You see this,” Takeru said bitterly, gesturing around. “He turned the electronics off. He got rid of the food. It’s like… it’s like…”

“Like he was not planning on coming back. But he left his clothes and other things,” Ryoken pointed out. “Maybe he just wasn’t sure he would survive.”

Takeru’s stomach dropped.

“You… you don’t think he actually…”

“No,” Ryoken said in a quick, and sharp way. “Everyone who was taken by the Dark Ignis came back. Which means the Dark Ignis had to lose that duel, otherwise…”

Takeru buried his face into his hands.

He was aware of the holes in this logic - maybe it was a draw. Maybe Yusaku sacrificed himself in exchange to having everyone come back.

Nobody really knew what Ai’s plans were. Nobody knew where Yusaku had gone to face Ai.

Nobody knew where to look.

Takeru felt the mattress shift under him as Ryoken sat down, and gently pried his hands off from Takeru’s face. So Takeru looked at him - and he expected Ryoken’s face to be passive as ever, but there were like a thousand different emotions running through it.

“He won,” Ryoken said, and Takeru didn’t miss the way his voice was weaker than usual. “He won, and he will come back.”

“...Ryoken, I…”

“Don’t,” Ryoken interrupted him. “That is what happened, and what is going to happen. He won, and will come back.”

It was at this point when Takeru realised just how utterly screwed up both of them were, waiting for the same person to come back.

It was also at this point that they kissed - he had no idea which one of them leaned forward, he was just kissing Ryoken, clinging into him desperately, and he felt Ryoken’s hand almost painfully pulling on his hair, as he was just as desperate about this kiss as Takeru was.

Yeah.

Definitely screwed up, Takeru thought. Kissing there, on Yusaku’s bed.

So, so screwed up.

~*~

“I think Soulburner and Revolver are… involved.”

“Well, they know each other.”

“That is not what I mean. I mean romantically.”

Unknown’s fingers stopped scrolling through all the data for a moment, before he resumed working again.

“...good for them. They deserve some happiness.”

“Do you think they can be happy?”

“Does anyone really?”

“Do you want to discuss philosophy?”

The answer was just a snort from Unknown.

“Hardly.”

They were quiet for a few moments before Unknown asked, obviously after some brief hesitation.

“...what do you think, why can’t they be happy?”

Pandor smiled a little, before shaking her head.

“I think you know the answer to that. They miss Playmaker.”

Unknown was still quiet, and then he shook his head.

“Playmaker is not who is needed now.”

“People need who they need. Maybe not Playmaker, but the one behind him.”

“...or maybe someone else.”

He stood up, suddenly, reaching into one of the screens, and then pulled out a glowing red orb, gently holding it in his hands.

“...oh. You are done.”

“With him, yes” Unknown was almost gentle, as he stepped away from the screens, carefully looking at the glowing orb of data. “He is still asleep.”

“Do you plan on keeping him here until you get the others?”

Unknown hesitated, before reaching the orb out to Pandor.

“Send him up. To Soulburner. I think… he is more needed than Playmaker is.”

~*~

Takeru would have lied if he had said he did not enjoy being next to Ryoken. In all honesty, he should have gone back to town weeks ago, school was about to start up again, but leaving Ryoken just made him feel like something was crawling down on his spine. His entire being vehemently argued against being without Ryoken, apparently. He told himself that they could still meet in Link VRAINS, but there was a part of Takeru which really liked  _ waking up  _ next to Ryoken as well.

Ryoken had a nice house, and an even more comfortable bed, and apparently was a total cuddler. Which he vehemently denied in the mornings always, and then he would get flustered, and it was almost  _ adorable. _

Yeah, Takeru figured, he is going to have to transfer back to Den City again, probably.

The absence was still there, but now there was Ryoken - Ryoken, who also felt that absence, both of them did, even if they didn’t say it. Takeru imagined it a lot of times, imagined what it would be like, Yusaku’s smile in front of Stardust Road, but he would always be pulled back into reality.

He also wondered what Yusaku would think about this.

It was still very nice though, kissing Ryoken, even when the desperation was mostly gone from their kisses. It was  _ something. _

And Takeru didn’t want Ryoken to be yet another absence.

They settled into this weird daily thing, and Takeru barely moved out of Ryoken’s house.

Neither did Ryoken, actually, he mostly kept contact with the rest of the Hanoi through Link VRAINS or via their computers. Ryoken would try to teach him programming which, admittedly flew right over Takeru’s head. Ryoken apparently found this hilarious, and he was smirking like an  _ asshole  _ and it should not have been as attractive as it was.

They were doing that again when everything changed.

When Takeru’s duel disk on the table lit up with a red light.

When a very familiar figure appeared from it, obviously confused, rubbing his eyes, and Takeru’s stomach dropped.

Their eyes met. Ryoken tensed up next to him.

Then Flame talked first.

“I have to admit Takeru, I did  _ not  _ see this coming.”

Takeru bolted away from Ryoken’s side so fast he almost pushed Ryoken’s chair over, and then he was in front of Flame, his heart beating in his throat.

“I… you?! Here?!”

“How?!” Ryoken also demanded, standing up.

Flame shook his head.

“I don’t know. The last thing I remember is… well. You remember it, Takeru. Our fight with Bohman. Then next thing I knew, I was… floating upwards.”

~*~

“Revolver is looking vehemently into the trail of where Flame came from.”

“Is he going to find anything?”

Pandor smiled.

“I know how to cover my tracks.”

“Are you sure you won’t get into trouble?”

“I know what I signed up for.”

Unknown sighed, shaking his head.

“I don’t like you putting yourself in harm’s way still.”

“I have free will, don’t I? I am free to utilize it in any way I see fit.”

He nodded reluctantly.

“You are right.” Unknown hesitated again. “How is… Revolver taking it?”

“I think whatever is his involvement with Soulburner, it mellowed him out a bit,” Pandor replied. “I don’t think he has any intentions of killing Flame.”

Unknown exhaled, tension obviously leaving his shoulders.

“That is… very good to hear.”

~*~

Flame was back.

Flame was back.

Flame was in the duel disk on Takeru’s arm, and Takeru still couldn’t quite believe it. He still couldn’t quite believe it when they were in Link VRAINS, when they were outside of it. He still couldn’t quite believe it when they were telling Flame everything that happened afterwards - the things they found out about Lightning, and Ai’s own rebellion.

The fact that they had no idea where Yusaku was.

Flame was quiet, looking down on Takeru’s hands that were holding onto the duel disk, almost desperately.

“...so Windy wasn’t himself, was he? He wasn’t lying about his nature - because the Windy we fought against was not the Windy I knew.”

“Yeah. Does it make everything we said to him better or worse?”

“I don’t know, Takeru. I really don’t.”

They were both quiet, before a new voice spoke up.

“What was he like? Before he was rewritten.”

Both of them looked up, and there was Ryoken, leaning on the doorframe, his pale eyes fixed on them.

Then Flame started to speak.

“A lot of things were the same,” Flame said. “He always was a fast talker, and an even faster thinker - his thoughts would run away from him and would go on tangents, like the wind. He would always have a somewhat mean-spirited nature, and to be frank, he was always a brat. But...”

“But?” Takeru asked.

“But he wasn’t… malicious. He sometimes did things that only he thought were hilarious, but they weren’t… he wasn’t harming anyone. That’s why I couldn’t believe it when I heard that he hurt his partner. That he wanted to destroy humanity. It didn’t seem like the Windy I knew.”

“And it wasn’t,” Takeru said, and Flame nodded.

“And it wasn’t. But he is still gone now, and I kept telling him I wouldn’t forgive him.”

“You were gone too,” Ryoken spoke up, with a voice that betrayed no emotion. “He might come back as well.”

Flame perked up at that, eyes widening.

“You think there is a chance for that?”

Ryoken turned his eyes away from Flame, looking over the sea instead.

“Someone obviously thought you don’t deserve to stay gone. I don’t think… if it is who we think it is, I think it is only fair to assume that he would extend the same courtesy to the other Ignis as well. At least for most of them.”

He did not need to say who they suspected was responsible for it.

They all knew.

~*~

Takeru didn’t know what to do.

Some part of the absence was filled now, Flame being back and all. But… but he didn’t want to leave Ryoken.

He also didn’t know what to do anymore, especially that the first time Flame emerged from his duel disk in a bigger, more monstrous form, Takeru promptly tackled him.

There was something very comfortable about Flame’s arms around him, just as much as there was something just as comfortable about Ryoken’s arms around him too.

Frankly, he had no idea how to bring any of his up, to anyone.

Things started to get even more complicated, when Aoi Zaizen called them.

They were barely surprised by what they heard.

~*~

“Blue Maiden had taken Aqua to introduce her to her origin, but probably they will stay partnered up. That is what everyone assumes, at least.”

Unknown this time was sitting on top of their building, hanging his legs down on the side, as he held the latest glowing orb in his hands. He slowly nodded.

“It makes sense. Even if Aqua decides to partner with her origin as well, if she will want to get back into duelling, I doubt it will cause problems between them.”

Pandor was standing over Unknown, and look down at the next orb - it was brown.

“So the data I got was good enough.”

Unknown nodded, with a small smile, before frowning.

“...what do you think, Pandor? I don’t want to let him go alone, but there is only one person I can think of that I can send him to.”

“I believe he has some curiosity left from the events that he lived through,” Pandor replied. “I believe even if he would not want to partner up with him, he would not cause him harm. And even if he would have an impulse to do that, I don’t think that is what Revolver would want by now - he is very used to Flame’s presence as well. And if all goes wrong, I can still get him away from them.”

“Wouldn’t that go against your programming?”

“My programming is that I can’t turn against humans.” Pandor smiled. “Obviously I would never hurt them. I can still keep him safe without causing any harm to humans.”

Unknown looked at her for a few moments, before smiling.

“I really like the way you think, Pandor. I will trust you, then.”

And with that, Unknown let the brown orb go.

~*~

Takeru did not expect Earth to pop up in Spectre’s duel disk, but the fact that Spectre allowed him to stay was even more unexpected. Aqua appearing with Aoi was one thing, but this one came kind of out of left field.

“We need to think about what will happen next.”

Takeru was sitting on Ryoken’s bed, his head resting on Ryoken’s shoulder, while Flame was in his hands, in the duel disk. He was afraid Ryoken would have problems with Flame being in the bed with them, but he didn’t say a single word against it.

He just said… that.

“What do you mean?”

“He is right,” Flame pointed out. “Aqua and I always allied with humans, and Earth was neutral, who… well. We lost him before he would have picked a side.”

“The remaining three Ignis are trouble, though.”

Flame’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Ryoken, but he remained unfazed, so Takeru asked instead.

“Trouble? I get Lightning, but…”

“The Dark Ignis turned on humanity as well.”

“After he lost all of us,” Flame interjected, and to their surprise, Ryoken nodded.

“True. Only after that. But how can we know something won’t happen again to trigger a change like that?”

“You can’t act based on predictions,” Takeru said softly.

“Takeru is right.” Flame pointed at Ryoken. “That is why we are in this situation in the first place. Because Lightning and your father both acted on predictions. Besides, Windy was a victim as well, so even if you have issues with Ai and Lightning, you should not have any problems against Windy’s return.”

“Maybe” Ryoken looked away, not pulling away from Takeru still. “But where would he go? His origin is still alive, but does not have a duel disk, and I doubt that’s where he would be sent to even if he would have one. And he never partnered with anyone either.”

That… was a good question, and one that they could not find the answer to.

But they fell asleep like that, and when Takeru woke up, both Ryoken and him were tucked under the covers, with a sleepy, monstrous Flame all sprawled on top of them.

~*~

Unknown was on top of the building again, but this time, he was pacing. Walking up and down on the roof, his hands almost clinging to the newest orb in his hands.

He was close to finishing all of them, but… but.

He was entering tricky territory.

“Where are you going to send him to?”

Unknown stopped his pacing, but did not reply to Pandor. Did not even look at her, actually.

It was the same question in his mind as well.

“There aren’t that many candidates, who know about the Ignis. I assume you would not want to spring him on, say - Brave Max.”

Now that made Unknown actually snort as a reflexive response.

“Probably not, no. I don’t think he would mesh with Windy at all, for starters.”

“Who  _ would  _ he mesh with?”

The corner of Unknown’s mouth moved a bit.

“There are options.”

“Indeed.” Pandor was also amused, as she stepped closer, looking at the green glowing orb. “How is his body?”

“Rearranging Earth was easier somewhat, as SOL methodically took him apart,” Unknown replied. “Windy was trickier. I removed all traces of the virus, but there still might be some damage retained. But I don’t think he should be in pain. Hard to tell while he is asleep, though.”

They were both silent, while they both looked at the code in Unknown’s hands.

“There is one option” Pandor started, and Unknown look at her with his own green eyes.

“...is it wise? What do you think? You are closer to him lately, I hadn’t… I hadn’t seen him for months now. Would he… how did he react to Earth?”

“He accepted him” Pandor replied. “And I think he is fond of Flame in his own way.”

“...so you think we should trust him with this?”

“Don’t you trust him?”

“I would trust him with my life,” Unknown replied without missing a beat. “The same cannot be said about trusting him with any Ignis’ life.”

“I am still there to look out,” Pandor said in a soothing voice. “Not to mention Soulburner and Flame are there too. We won’t let anything happen to him.”

Unknown bit his lip, before letting the glowing orb go, and he just looked after him.

“...please, be safe.”

~*~

Takeru was kissing Ryoken in the kitchen, when they heard a weird sound coming from Ryoken’s duel disk - they parted, looked at it, and saw a glowing green colour.

Before either of them could have reacted to anything that was happening, a very familiar form appeared from it, rubbing his eye.

“Ow, ow, ow, this isn’t the best thing ever, ow, this hurts, can this get any worse? I feel like someone woke me up from a deep sleep. When I don’t even sleep, wow, is that even fair?” Windy stopped, opened a single,  _ purple  _ eye, and then saw who was he attached to. And then shrieked. “When I asked if it could get any worse, it was a rhetorical question! I didn’t  _ mean  _ it! Hey---!”

Ryoken yanked the duel disk off from his arm, and threw it across the kitchen, causing Windy to flail around in panic, and Takeru and Flame both yell in concern.

“What are you doing?!” Flame’s voice was very accusatory, obviously.

Takeru looked at Ryoken - and saw his widened eyes, which were fixed on his own duel disk, barely even moving since he threw it.

He never saw him that bewildered before.

“...Ryoken.”

Ryoken shuddered, as if waking up from a trance, and there was cold fury on his face for a few moments.

“...what is he doing?”

“Huh?”

“How does he just…” Ryoken moved suddenly, crossing the kitchen quickly, picking up the duel disk - Windy pulled himself back, only nervously blinking in the form of a single eye. “He is gone through all these months, and then… this?! How can he just…”

“...maybe he trusts you with doing the right thing.”

Ryoken looked back at Takeru, his eyes so full of many emotions at the same time, and Takeru realised just how many things he kept bottled up deep in himself.

Just as Takeru himself, he realised.

“I think that is what all of this is about. All of us just… getting second chances.”

Ryoken stood there for a few more moments, his hands whitening around the duel disk, before looking down at it, his gaze meeting Windy’s single eye.

“...alright then. I suppose we should talk.”

“That would be news. You, talking with me, without the threat of killing me.”

“I can still throw out the duel disk into the sea.”

“There it is. Good old Revolver, the one I know. Will someone be considerate enough to update me on what the hell is going on after all?! I have a feeling I am a bit out of the loop here.”

Oh boy.

He sure was.

~*~

Ryoken Kogami did not think he would walk this path, especially not with his current company. Sure, to a casual observer, he seemed like he was alone, but…

“You know what, I changed my mind. Can we go back? I mean like back to Den City, and also back to you trying to kill me. You should kill me instead. I don’t really want to do this after all.”

“I already arrived here, I am not going back without doing what we came here for.”

“Wow. Rude. So rude. Your manners aren’t any better, even without trying to kill me.”

“And you are still obnoxious without  _ you  _ trying to kill  _ me _ .”

“In my defense, I wasn’t myself when I was trying to kill you. And everyone else. While you were your own lovely self trying to kill us all.”

“Yeah, well. We are all works in progress.”

“Excuse you, I am fixed.”

“Have you talked to Flame yet, or are you avoiding him as well?”

“That is completely uncalled for. Also since when you are calling him by his name?”

Ryoken was silent, and then Windy let out a whistling sound.

“Oooh, so  _ that  _ is why he is usually in the bedroom with you and Takeru. Kinky.”

“Shut up, Windy.”

“Does this mean I am invited now as well?”

“I can throw the duel disk under a truck.”

“Please do.”

He did not.

They walked through the small town, until they found who they were looking for - a boy, a bit younger than Ryoken was, sitting in a wheelchair in one of the parks - there were burn marks on his skin, that caused a lot of sneaky stares from people around them.

But he was alone.

Ryoken just stopped, and looked down on his duel disk.

“Are you ready?”

“No” Windy replied, before emerging from the duel disk with a sigh. He did not need to sigh, but Ryoken figured this situation did ask for it. “Let’s do it.”

~*~

“So, how did it go?”

“Surprisingly well. They don’t seem to know what to do with each other yet, but they seem to be willing to figure this out. So it seems like we have avoided anyone being murdered. They also met with Windy’s origin.”

“...how did  _ that  _ go?”

“He also didn’t murder anyone. That is an even more complicated issue, but it seems like they are all gonna avoid being murdered.”

It seemed like a big weight had fallen down from Unknown’s shoulders, as he closed his eyes with a deep sigh.

“This is… going smoother than expected.”

“What will you do about the last two?”

Unknown opened his eyes, looking at the last two screens.

Dark. Light.

“...I will fix them both. And then… I will see.”

~*~

“So. Our humans seem terribly fond of each other.”

“It is still odd that Ryoken Kogami can be referred to as  _ my human.  _ Like wow. Talk about plot twists. Who could have seen it coming?”

“Maybe it was not that surprising, in context.”

“Yes! Yes it is! He wanted to kill me! He tried to kill me! I also tried to kill him! That is a plot twist if I had ever seen one.”

“You also tried to kill me. Twice, actually. And I don’t see you whine about us getting along being unexpected.”

Windy visibly deflated after hearing Flame’s words, lying down on Ryoken’s duel disk. The humans were not at home right now - maybe they needed to talk about things alone as well. Or maybe they just opted to give the two of them some privacy as well.

“Don’t remind me.”

Flame climbed out of the duel disk, all long arms and glowing eye, pulling Windy further out as well. The little green menace gave out a yelp, but he allowed himself to be pulled out, and for Flame to completely wrap around him, until they were a mess of red-and-green limbs.

“You weren’t yourself.”

“I know. I still did it.”

“And I am not holding it against you.”

“Well I am! Because I remember doing it! Stop squeezing me and let me flail around damn it! I am making serious points here.”

“I am not letting you go until you calm down and accept my forgiveness.”

“I hate you.”

Flame let out a little laugh, pressing a kiss to Windy’s head.

“I am fine with that.”

~*~

“So. Ryoken. How the hell did someone like you end up in one household with two Ignis? Three if we count Earth.”

“Spectre does not live here.”

“Well, he visits a lot and brings Earth with him, so I say it counts, it totally counts. Point is, I would not have imagined you doing this. Not only put up with this, you totally allow Flame into your bed aren’t you?”

“He is clingy. So is Takeru. Doesn’t mean anything.”

Windy snickered, climbing out from the duel disk, wrapping two of his arms around Ryoken’s neck, with a wide grin.

“Doesn’t it?”

Ryoken glanced at Windy, but didn’t pull away, didn’t try to pry the Ignis off from himself.

“You are implying things.”

“Me? Implying? Never. I mean you keep making out with Takeru, aren’t you? And allow Flame into your bed. Where Takeru already is. I mean it isn’t a leap of logic to  _ imply  _ things.”

“Jealous?”

Now that made Windy shut up, and blinked slowly, while Ryoken tilted his head, to be able to look into Windy’s glowing purple eye.

“...what?”

“I saw you being all clingy with Flame. Now you are clinging on me. It isn’t a leap of logic now, is it?”

Windy huffed, turning his head away, while Ryoken smirked a little.

“You are annoying, Revolver.”

“Sure. I am the annoying one in this household. Not the two obnoxious Ignis, and not the jock who is currently two minutes away frying one of my hard drives probably.”

“And yet you put up with us.”

Ryoken nodded reluctantly.

“And yet I put up with you.”

~*~

It was comfortable, Takeru figured.

It was comfortable, with Ryoken’s face buried into his chest, clinging into each other, and with Flame and Windy all wrapped around both of them. There was a kind of warmth that could not be replicated. They weren’t  _ alone. _

The absence should have been gone, right? Their bed ( _ their  _ bed, he was thinking of it as such) was getting seriously crowded, so surely…

But he knew better.

They went out into the city more, and Takeru kept hoping he would see a familiar messy haired figure move into the background. In Link VRAINS he found himself looking upwards, hoping to see a familiar D-Board flying around.

Or maybe a familiar flash of dark purple go around.

Anything…

And he knew Ryoken was doing the same. He also had a pretty good idea that so did Flame and Windy.

He figured it should have been weirder than it was, having Revolver’s duel disk being occupied.

And yet.

“There is still two Ignis remaining.”

Ryoken’s voice was soft, and it was night, while he was looking over Stardust Road. Takeru was silent.

So were the two Ignis.

Then Takeru sighed, closing his eyes.

“I guess we will have to wait and see what he decided, what should he do about them.”

~*~

~*~

Jin Kusanagi was not an idiot.

To be honest, everyone could guess who was responsible for the Ignis coming back, even if none of the resurrected Ignis had any ideas themselves. Which made sense, Jin figured.

He would not want to be found until his job is done.

That said, nobody could find any track of him, which, on one hand… sure. He was aware that Yusaku Fujiki was a really talented hacker.

But he also knew that for most of his life, it wasn’t  _ him  _ who did most of the hacking during their operations.

So someone had to be helping him.

Jin’s brother was right out. Shoichi tried his best to keep secrets from Jin, but frankly, he was the worst at it. (Thankfully he had others to visit to get the information he wanted. Ryoken Kogami in particular was very fun to pressure - he was feeling guilty about a lot of things, so all Jin had to do was to gently push on his guilt buttons, and he was willing to tell him all the information he wanted.)

So if Shoichi would have been the one helping the Ignis coming back, there was no way Jin would not have figured it out from him.

The remaining hackers were similarly easy to figure out as well, and rule them out. It was easy.

Who would he trust? Who would be willing to help, and help in a way, that nobody could find their tracks? Not Shoichi, not SOL with Akira Zaizen at the helm, and not the Knights of Hanoi, with their eyes pried open.

Then he figured it out, so he sent a message, wanting to meet out in one of the parks.

He was sitting there, looking at the lake, gripping his bag, waiting, until he heard the footsteps.

“I did not expect you to want to meet me here, Jin Kusanagi.”

Pandor was in a SOLtiS body - so she was not that obviously an android, although her body did look seriously similar to her in-Link VRAINS looks.

“I did not want anyone to overhear us inside. I figure you maybe would not want Revolver and the others to know what we are talking about.”

Pandor sat down next to Jin, resting her hands on her knees, her back straightened.

“I am listening, Jin Kusanagi.”

“I know you are the one helping Playmaker.”

That made Pandor blink a bit rapidly, before smiling a little.

“I have not met Playmaker in months.”

“So I guess he uses some other name now, doesn’t he?”

Pandor was still smiling.

“Why are you curious?”

“I want to speak with him.”

“Why?”

“...I have something to ask him. I won’t tell anyone else. But I need to ask him something. Let me talk with him, Pandor.”

~*~

Pandor and a white-gold figure materialized in Deep VRAINS. The locals all followed them intently, but they were all aware that Pandor was affiliated with Unknown, so they did not go close to them.

So that was something.

“Hello Unknown. Someone wanted to see you.”

Unknown looked up, and it took him a few moments to realise who was there. Then his jaw dropped.

“You…!”

“I like the name Lightbringer, if you don’t mind.”

Unknown looked at Pandor, almost glaring.

“Why…?”

“Don’t blame her, it was all me. And I promised not to tell anyone. Also, I figured it out by myself and asked her about it. I just have a simple request, that is it.”

“...what is it?”

Lightbringer sat down, before reaching out, and grabbing Unknown’s wrist.

Then he said his request.

“...are you sure?”

The answer was just a nod, so Unknown just sighed, nodding a little as well.

“Alright. I will do that.”

“When?”

“Just give me a few days. Then I will be finished.”

~*~

Jin was talking with his brother in the truck alone when his duel disk emitted a golden light.

Oh, well.

This was probably going to be unpleasant.

~*~

~*~

There was a tense silence in Ryoken’s kitchen, and the only one clearly not bothered by it was Jin Kusanagi, who just sat there, unwavering. Even Lightning seemingly had no idea what was he doing there, sitting in Jin’s duel disk.

Shoichi Kusanagi was not present, he was outside, pacing - Jin claimed that Shoichi fussed too much, and probably would have interrupted them, but Shoichi was not willing to leave, so that was the compromise they found.

Nobody had any doubts that Shoichi would have stormed inside to strangle Lightning with his own hands, digital being or no, if he had started to act up inside.

The other reactions were more mixed. Mostly Ryoken, and the other two Ignis were glaring daggers. Takeru also felt his own anger boil deep inside him, remembering everything Lightning had done, the way he mocked them, the way he almost burnt down everything.

The empty, monotone way Jin Kusanagi last moved after his commands.

A far cry from how Jin looked now.

“...would you repeat what you said?”

“I said…” Jin said, rolling his eyes. “That I told Playmaker to send Lightning to me. It was my choice. Mine. He just did what I asked.”

“Why?”

“Because I needed answers” Jin shrugged. “And I figured if he would be acting up again, we can deal with him again. But I never actually met my Ignis when I was  _ aware  _ of it happening, and it was a bit unfair, don’t you think?”

“And what is Lightning going to do?”

Lightning crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“I did not ask to be brought back.”

“Yet here you are. What now?”

Lightning huffed, turning his head, and Takeru did not miss the way Ryoken’s hand gripped the kitchen counter.

They could have thrown everything Lightning had done into his face - from what happened with Jin, what he had done to Windy, to all of them… but what was the point?

It was nothing that Lightning didn’t already know.

“So Playmaker for some reason decided to do this,” Ryoken said slowly, and Windy laughed out bitterly.

“Second chances, huh? Apparently he believes even Lightning deserves a second chance?”

“Doesn’t he?” Jin asked, shrugging. “He clearly had done the worst things to me in this room, and you don’t hear me bitching about it.”

“Because you are a creepy feral child that is why!” Windy pointed at Jin, who just grinned.

“Feral, you say? Well, I did not exactly have a lot of education now, did I?” He asked in an amused manner before shrugging. “Who we are, and what we need to do in order to survive are two different things. I guess I want to figure out who Lightning  _ is.  _ If he starts up something again, I can stop him myself.”

“Can you?” Lightning glanced up at Jin, whose grin just turned even wider - almost like a wild animal baring his teeth with his grin.

“Try me, Lightning. I am not that defenseless anymore.”

“That is nice and dandy,” Flame continued, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Just because you are willing to forgive, you aren’t the only one he hurt.”

“And I don’t care if you forgive him or not.” Jin shrugged. “I just ask you to not kill him. Well, at least until he actually  _ becomes  _ a threat that warrants killing. Should not be a big thing to ask now, should it?”

They were all silent, before Ryoken raised his head.

“I just have one more question to you.”

“Shoot.”

“Don’t say  _ shoot _ to someone whose entire aesthetic is based around guns,” Windy muttered.

Everyone ignored him, obviously. Especially Ryoken, who did ask his question.

“How did you find Playmaker?”

Now Jin’s grin was back.

“It was kind of the funniest thing out of all of it. Seeing as the answer to it was quite literally under your nose, Revolver.”

“...what?”

~*~

Ryoken figured he should have been angrier. He should have been angrier, so, so much angrier, when Pandor told him what she had been doing.

Oh, he was still  _ angry.  _ He still clenched his fist, holding himself back from… what exactly?

What should have he done?

“I understand if you do not see it the way I do,” Pandor said, nodding a little. “While I did not go against the  _ words  _ of your order, I certainly went against the  _ spirit  _ of it.”

“Honestly, it is his own damn fault,” Windy piped up, sounding really smug. “His orders clearly weren’t clear enough. Instructions not clear, and Pandor helped all of us revive. Whoops. Can’t be real mad about it now, can you, Revolver? Huh? You would miss me if I wouldn’t be here, right?”

“I can’t miss someone who was never there.”

“Well I am here now!” Windy obviously would have grinned, if he could have. “So you would miss me now!”

He did not dignify that with an answer, just kept his eyes fixed on Pandor, who looked at him thoughtfully.

“I understand that you are missing Playmaker” Pandor said gently. “He seemed like he was missing you and Soulburner as well.”

“...take me to him.”

“I can’t.” Pandor shook her head.

“Pandor…”

“No, I really can’t” Pandor interrupted him. “He only let Lightning go, when fixing Ai was already finished. He knew that after Lightning comes back, you would find out from Lightbringer what is going on. So he let Lightning go and logged out, together with Ai. I have no idea where his physical body is.”

Ryoken felt like the world was spinning around him.

Just as he found one answer, just as…

“But…” Pandor continued gently. “I can give you the data I collected from his stay in Deep VRAINS. Maybe it will give you some hints.”

That was more than anything they had for the past months.

“...thank you, Pandor.”

Hearing Ryoken thank her, Pandor’s face lit up with a smile, and Windy whistled a little.

“We have a lead then? For the first time in… what? Seems like forever.”

“...seems like, yeah.”

That was something.

They had something.

~*~

It was a small, completely run down room that Yusaku rented. Well,  _ rented  _ was the wrong word. More like, he did some hacking jobs to the shady landlord, so he allowed him to stay without being bothered.

He sometimes logged out during the past months, obviously, making sure that his body would not deteriorate while he was working inside.

“Wow. You lost weight. Which is saying something, you were always very skinny.”

Ai was sitting in his duel disk again.

He was there again, his glowing eyes following Yusaku’s movements, as he was moving around. Yusaku was logging out regularly, but he still spent long hours, sometimes days in Deep VRAINS, so his muscles weren’t in the best condition.

“It’s all fine. I ate enough.”

“You obviously didn’t!” Ai complained, frowning, his hands on his hips. “You look like hell.”

“Thanks.”

“You know what I mean! You ran yourself into the ground didn’t you?! I didn’t die just so you can destroy yourself, Yusaku!”

“Well, you shouldn’t have died, then.”

Yusaku walked back, sitting down, just to take the duel disk into his lap, and ran some of his fingers over Ai’s head. To his credit, Ai actually looked dejected - his shoulders slumped, looking down.

“I… I told you what I saw in the simulations. If I am the only…”

“Good thing you aren’t the only one, then.”

“Huh?!” Ai perked up, and Yusaku smiled a little.

“They are back. All of them. Not… near here, but they are back in Den City.”

Ai obviously hesitated.

“...everyone?”

“Yeah” Yusaku nodded. “Lightning too. Jin visited me while I was working and asked me about it… I have no idea how that one went. After letting Lightning go, I logged out with you.”

Ai looked down, and Yusaku ran his fingers over his head again - and Ai leaned into his touch.

“I am still… worried. The simulations…”

“I will seriously ask Pandor to destroy those simulations” Yusaku interrupted him harshly. “It all went wrong because of those.”

“...huh?”

“Think about it.” Yusaku looked down on him. “Dr Kogami attacked you because of what he had seen. Lightning freaked out because of that as well. So did you.”

“I did  _ not  _ freak out. I had a very calculated plan.”

“Forcing me into killing you does count as a freakout, I think.”

Ai slumped again, and Yusaku leaned forward, and kissed the top of his head.

“...huh? Yusaku, are you aware that you just kissed me?”

“That was my answer.”

“Answer to what?”

“You told me something while you disappeared. I could not answer because of that. So here. My answer.”

For a few minutes Ai just blinked up at him, then his eyes looked like he was smiling.

“You love me!”

“Regrettably.”

“Uh-huh. You totally meant that. And I am taking it as a yes. No take-backsies. You do!”

“You said it first.”

“I was  _ dying.  _ It was meant to be emotional last words and everything, but you just  _ always _ have to have the last word, don’t you?”

Yusaku smiled a bit, closing his eyes, before lying back on the bed.

“I guess I do.”

Ai crawled out of the duel disk, twisting into his monster form so he could wrap himself completely around Yusaku, and Yusaku just put his arms around him, holding him there.

“So… what now? What are we gonna do? Go back?”

Yusaku bit his lip, looking up at the ceiling.

“...I guess I should. I know there are some people who… really miss me.”

“Oooh? And what about you? Do you miss them too?”

“...yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Do you think they miss me too?”

“I’m sure of it.”

“Awwww. That is sweet of you. Who are we talking about again?”

“Ryoken and Takeru.”

“...the second one is fine, and I guess he has Flame right? Yay for that, but…”

“Ryoken has a partner too.”

“...huh?”

“It’s Windy.”

_ “What happened here while I was gone?!” _

Yusaku couldn’t help but laugh a little, as he squeezed Ai a bit tighter. He listened to Ai complain and whine about it a little longer, before actually telling him everything that happened.

He still didn’t let him go through, of course.

~*~

From the scraps of data Pandor gave them, they managed to drag where Playmaker had logged out - well, he was  _ Unknown  _ at that point, they figured. Still the same person fundamentally. Still Yusaku Fujiki. So it counted.

It was in a different town, and the landlord was very shady, narrowing his eyes - until Ryoken reached into his pockets and pressed a handful of bills into his hand.

That immediately made him much friendlier.

“Yeah, of course I remember that fella” The landlord shrugged. “Hardly the only young person who ran away into these areas. Mostly petty criminals or runaways, though. That kid seemed different. Didn’t talk much, didn’t get into trouble, and didn’t have a lot of money. Was willing to help me  _ get  _ money in exchange for being allowed to stay. Didn’t see much of him, though. I always left notes there if I needed something, and in a few days he emerged from his room to get them done. Mostly ate takeout too. Almost never left the house.”

“...is he still here?” Takeru asked, but instead of the landlord, Ryoken was the one who shook his head.

“He is talking about him in past tense.”

The landlord nodded.

“A few days ago he emerged, and he asked me if there was one last job I need doing, because he was going to leave, and didn’t want to owe me. So I got him to do some small thing for me, and he left, taking his stuff with him. He didn’t have much with him either way.”

It felt like the world was spinning around Takeru.

Finally, finally they had a lead, only to have him slip out from between their fingers still.

“Did… he say anything about where he went?”

As a response, the landlord shrugged.

“Home, I guess.”

“Home?” Ryoken asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I asked the kid where was he going. Told him he is unlikely to find a place where he can stay with conditions like this. And he just said he doesn’t need to, because he had done what he set out to do, so there was no need for him to keep hiding anymore. Don’t ask me what the heck does that mean, though. That was probably the most words I ever heard him say in one sentence.”

Home...

~*~

Takeru was faster than Ryoken.

He was also physically stronger, but that was neither here, nor there - he just jumped out of the car that one of the Hanoi was driving (Baira, Takeru remembered, not like that mattered), and he barely even closed the door behind him, as he was running towards Yusaku’s apartment. He was aware that Ryoken was running together with him - of course he was.

He didn’t even knock, just opened the door - and it did allow him inside.

It was open.

And by the table, fidgeting with Roboppi’s body, there was a very pale figure.

Takeru stopped, gasping for air, and he was aware that Ryoken also arrived into the house - but both of them only stared at the owner of the apartment.

He was pale, paler than they remembered him being, and thinner - his cheekbones more defined on his face, and it made his green eyes look even bigger. His hair was messier, and maybe a bit longer than they remembered it being, but it was… it still was…

Yusaku stood up, putting down the screwdriver, his eyes fixed on them.

On his arm, there was a duel disk, that he slowly raised - and there was… there was the other familiar figure, a dark purple little figure, with glowing eyes and a cheerful wave.

Yusaku spoke first.

“I’m home.”

Something inside Takeru snapped, and he lunged forward, grabbing onto Yusaku’s shirt, shaking him.

“Home… you…. you…”

There were no words, he just yanked him closer, pressing their lips together - a short, furious kiss, and Yusaku did not pull away. Takeru was the one who pulled away first - but only so he could lock Yusaku into his arms.

Then he reached out, pulling Ryoken closer, and Yusaku put his arms around both of them. Takeru was vaguely aware that it felt like Ryoken was shaking, but he gripped onto both of them just as much as Takeru did.

“...welcome back, Yusaku.”

Takeru had no idea how long they had been standing there like that, clinging into each other. Especially as the three Ignis also climbed out of their duel disks, and turns out, it is even harder getting out from a group hug, when there are three, multi-armed beings locking you into it.

Not that either of them complained about it.

~*~

“So. Tried to destroy humanity, huh?”

Ai was standing in front of the mirror, fixing his SOLtiS body - he went for pretty much the same design as before, but ditched the cape. He thought he looked cool (didn’t matter what Yusaku said about it), but…

Maybe he wanted to change at least  _ something  _ about his design. To maybe avoid bad memories. Similarly how Jin’s Lightbringer avatar did not look a lot like his previous avatar either.

A new start.

He smiled and looked back at the other two, who were in a SOLtiS body for the first time - Windy with his long ponytail and two-toned green hair, and gothic, elegant clothing, boots and long dark green coat; and Flame, with his black leather outfit, with the flame patterns, and messy hair that rivalled Soulburner’s.

Ai’s smile turned into a grin.

“That is a bit of an overstatement. I just declared myself humanity’s enemy. I didn’t have to actually  _ try  _ to destroy humanity, they did their best to stop me from doing anything… too drastic.”

“You put people in a coma.”

Ai shrugged.

“They are all fine now.”

Windy looked down on the floor, and Ai sighed, even though he really didn’t need to.

“And your origin is fine too, isn’t he?”

“Don’t drag that into it! That is different! You weren’t killing them, I wanted to kill him, so it’s different.”

“You didn’t really want to---” Flame started, but Windy interrupted him.

“I did! I really did! It may have been just… me being reprogrammed, but I remember doing it. I remember enjoying it. Just like I remember---”

He couldn’t finish, because this time Flame interrupted him, with pressing their lips together.

Windy gave out a little, squeaky sound, flailing around a bit - and when they parted, his face was flushed, and Flame grinned.

“I  _ was  _ wondering about this. As fun as our normal bodies are, our humans look very entertained every time they do this, so I was curious about trying it.”

“Not fair,” Ai whined. “What about me? Hello? I am being left out? I am the one who helped you design the bodies, your taste notwithstanding, and I am the one not getting kisses?!”

“Get them yourself.”

So Ai did.

~*~

Windy walked through the plaza - actually  _ walked _ . It was an odd sensation, feeling the wind, the actual, real  _ wind  _ on his skin. Well, having skin was in general an odd, new sensation. But the wind - the wind was something new.

Obviously he liked the wind - he  _ was  _ wind, deep in the digital world, and feeling the real thing was… pleasant.

He was also alone.

Not for long, though.

“So this is where you went off to.”

There was Ryoken, hands in his pockets - and Ryoken Kogami was probably the most surprising element in this… whatever was happening now.

Yeah, absolutely the most surprising element.

“Aw. Did you miss me?”

Ryoken did not reply, and Windy snickered, bouncing towards him, leaning a bit forward - his SOLtiS body was reasonably shorter than Ryoken, but it never stopped Windy from getting on Ryoken’s nerves.

“I think you missed me. That’s why you came and looked for me. You missed meeeee. You are all grumpy and aloof and stuff but when it comes down to it, you come after me looking. You would totally look for the others too. Well, you kept looking for Yusaku when he was gone, so that was a given. So, you care. You also aren’t saying anything.”

“Maybe if you would stop to breathe a little, I would.”

“That usually doesn’t stop you!”

Ryoken looked far over Windy, to the other end of the plaza.

“Did you come here to look for Lightning?”

Windy visibly deflated, looking away.

“Well. Maybe. I came here two days ago too. And the day before that. I don’t know how far will I get today. Maybe I can actually walk to the hot dog truck today.”

“What do you want to tell him?”

“Dunno.” Windy shrugged. “Maybe starting with  _ fuck you. _ And following with that too. I have no idea what else. I could ask  _ why  _ but what would be the point of that? I know why. I know what he wanted. It is lucky it didn’t end worse. And I guess a tiny part of me is afraid he would do it to me again. Part of me knows he wouldn’t, but there is that tiny voice in the back of my brain keep telling me that I thought he would never do that to me and he still did it, and I keep telling that voice to shut up, but it doesn’t.”

“Even if he would try again, I wouldn’t let him.”

Windy wasn’t looking at Ryoken during his rant, and Ryoken just stepped closer, putting a finger under his chin, making Windy look up at him.

“None of us would.”

“...smooth.”

“Shut up.”

“I don’t think I will.” Windy grinned. “Not until you make me.”

So Ryoken did.

Windy still did not make it to the hot dog stand.

Maybe another day.

They had time, after all.

~*~

Yusaku still did not look healthier, but then again, he had only been back for a few days. Even though the other two humans especially fussed over him to get him to eat, things wouldn’t be changing that quickly.

Yusaku was back. Ai was also back.

Part of Takeru still couldn’t quite believe it.

He didn’t like letting them out of his field of vision - Takeru figured that he was afraid, that if Yusaku would walk out of the room, and Takeru wouldn’t see him anymore, he would disappear again, like his return had been just a dream.

Like he would just run away again.

“I don’t think he is going to leave, you know.”

Obviously Flame knew what was going on in his head - he had always known if Takeru was bothered by something, to the point Takeru used to wonder if he was literally reading his mind. Obviously, he wasn’t (probably) (there were a lot of weird things about the ways the Ignis were all connected to their Origins, but telepathy was probably not one of them).

Yusaku literally just walked outside a bit, sitting on the stairs, and Takeru was already fidgeting, debating with himself if it was too clingy to go after him, when Flame said those words. Right. Definitely too clingy, then.

Takeru sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs, slumping a bit.

“...I just… I guess part of me still…”

“Weren’t you also about to leave Den City after you lost me?” Flame’s voice was gentle, but pointed, and Takeru shuddered. “Yusaku ended up leaving before you did, but you told me you were about to leave either way.”

“...you are right. I am silly being this antsy over it.”

“That is not what I said” Flame shook his head, walking next to Takeru, placing his hand on his shoulder. “You came back, didn’t you? You couldn’t stay away. And neither could he. That is all that matters. Do  _ you  _ want to still leave?”

“No!”

Takeru himself was taken aback by his own quick reply, and Flame just smiled, and leaned down, to press a short kiss to Takeru’s lips.

“There you have it. I think we are all staying. Thankfully Ryoken has a big house. Although we might gonna need a bigger bed.”

“Flame!” Takeru felt his own face heat up, and Flame just grinned.

“What? You know I am right.”

~*~

“This bed is way too small for six people.”

“You, Windy and Flame have smaller forms. We would fit that way.”

“That is not the same!” Ai whined, bouncing a bit on the bed, looking up at Yusaku. “We have these bodies for a  _ reason. _ ”

“You don’t even need sleep.”

“Who said the reason is  _ sleep?” _

Ai was grinning like… well, like a total  _ jackass,  _ and Yusaku just rolled his eyes.

“You bounced on this idea quite quickly.”

“You don’t look surprised either” Ai pointed it out.

“I knew about this beforehand” Yusaku shrugged. “Pandor told me something was brewing here. I guess… it feels natural this way.”

Suddenly Ai grabbed Yusaku’s wrist, yanking him closer, and next thing he knew, he was sitting in Ai’s lap. Not that he minded, mind you, but he was still frowning, because Ai was a  _ menace  _ not to be encouraged.

“Natural? Hey, you know what does this make me think of?”

“Will I regret knowing?”

“Maybe. Probably. Or maybe not. Hey, hey, do you wanna know? Do you?”

Yusaku closed his eyes in tired anticipation, resting his head on Ai’s shoulder.

“Go ahead.”

“You know, if Ryoken’s daddy would come back to life and see this, he would probably die again from shock.”

Yusaku was silent for a few moments, before snorting.

“You found it funny!”

“You are ridiculous.” 

“You did! You totally did!”

Ai sounded absolutely delighted with himself, but Yusaku didn’t open his eyes.

He didn’t open them when he felt Ai’s lips on his own either.

~*~

“How are the Knights taking all of this?”

Ryoken did not need to ask what did Yusaku mean

The rest of them were bickering inside, trying to figure out how they should go to sleep - or rather, the three Ignis teamed up against a long-suffering Takeru to do… something. Ryoken was actually kind of dreading what was their plan.

Eventually he was going to have to face it, but for now, he and Yusaku were out on the balcony, looking over Stardust Road.

“They aren’t saying much. I am their leader, you know.”

“I’m sure they have opinions.”

Ryoken was quiet, and Yusaku leaned by the railing next to him, his green eyes also fixed on Stardust Road.

“All of you wanted to kill the Ignis for years. Now you are… here. With us.” Yusaku turned his head towards Ryoken. “And Spectre also teamed up with Earth, right?”

“You know a lot.”

“I needed to be sure if the Ignis are alright,” Yusaku said simply.

“So Pandor told you everything.”

“What I needed to know.”

He sighed a little, turning away from Stardust Road, before looking at Yusaku.

“There is one thing I don’t get,” Ryoken started. “Why did you send Windy to me? It isn’t really logical.”

“I didn’t want to let him go alone, and his origin was not a viable option. So I trusted you.”

“...why?”

“Well… Pandor told me you seemed to get along fine with Flame. So I trusted you that even if you would not team up with Windy, you would not hurt him.”

Ryoken looked into Yusaku’s eyes, slowly shaking his head.

“That was still a huge leap of faith from you. You should learn trusting me a little less.”

“Why?” Yusaku asked, stepping closer, taking one of Ryoken’s hands, running his thumb over his tattoo. “It did work out for me so far.”

What was there to say to that? Ryoken did not find the words, just squeezed Yusaku’s hand a little - and he did not pull away when Yusaku stepped closer, pressing their lips together.

It started as a slow kiss - but then everything, all the feelings that Ryoken tried his best to push down, they erupted, and he pulled Yusaku closer to himself.

Yusaku gave out a little sound from his throat, but he kissed Ryoken back with the same intensity, his hands holding onto Ryoken like he was what kept him alive  _ still,  _ and Ryoken didn’t want anything else but to tell him  _ no, you kept yourself alive, I was just there, I never did enough,  _ but also never wanted Yusaku to let him go.

But eventually they parted from the kiss, both of them gasping for air, and the night sky’s lights reflected in Yusaku’s green eyes.

“Don’t you dare disappear on me again like that.”

“I won’t,” Yusaku promised.

Ryoken nodded, and reluctantly pulled away a little, even though he really did not want to.

“We should go inside, and see if the bedroom is still in one piece.”

Yusaku pulled a face.

“I bet they will greet us with complaints about how small the bed is.”

Honestly, it wouldn’t have surprised Ryoken, at all.

~*~

It turned out, Yusaku was right, and they did greet them with complaints, seeing as Ai and Flame were right, the bed was way too small for six people. Especially as neither of the Ignis seemed willing to get out of their SOLtiS bodies.

“It would be easier, you know,” Yusaku pointed out.

“Sure, it would be.” Flame nodded. “But we want to prove a point.”

“What point would that be?”

“That Ryoken shouldn’t be a stingy little bitch, and get us a bigger bed,” Windy piped up.

Ryoken glared at Windy - and his glare would have been way more effective, if Windy wouldn’t have been lying on his chest while complaining.

They were all lying on the floor, actually, in a mess of tangled limbs and blankets and none of them were willing to move.

“Or maybe you could be accommodating, if you are so dead-set on being in bed with us, and just stay in your Ignis forms.”

Windy’s grin just grew even bigger.

“Oooh, you like our Ignis forms? Is it the tentacles? I bet it’s the tenta--- OW! Pulling my hair is not fair!”

“Your fault for being in a form that  _ has  _ hair to begin with.”

Windy was still fuming, and Yusaku and Takeru’s eyes found each other.

Yusaku smiled a little, pulling himself a bit closer, and Takeru felt something warm spreading in his chest. Or maybe that was just because six bodies all tangled up generated more body heat. Especially as half of them were androids. Are they gonna overheat? How can the three humans handle if they do? Will they wake up with burn marks?

He felt Ryoken’s fingers in his hair, gently caressing, as if he sensed that his thoughts went off on a tangent, and Takeru relaxed a bit. Of course, this made Windy pipe up.

“Oooh, I see how it is. I see, I see. You are playing with his hair all soft and nice and caring and gentle, and me? Little old, defenseless me? You are pulling my hair! I see how it is! Are you playing favo----”

Windy couldn’t finish it, and Takeru was too lazy to move to see, who the one who kissed him to make him stop was. It could have been either Ryoken or Flame, judging from the positions they were in, he figured.

Not that it made any difference, really.

Takeru just slowly closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep, knowing that when he wakes up, the others will be there - maybe not there, tangled up on the floor, but somewhere around the house, probably.

There won’t be any painful absences anymore.

And that was already more than Takeru could have asked for.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
